Automatic gun



Sept. 18, 1923-.

1,468,262 A. T. DAWSON ET AL AUT OMAT I C GUN Filed May 21, 1923 iLT Patented Sept. 18, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, GEORGE THOMAS BUCKHAM, AND CARL ALFRED LABBSON,

OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND,

DON, .ENGLAND.

Application filed May 21,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ARTHUR TREVOR Dawson, GEORGE THOMAS BUCKHAM, and CARL ALFRED LARssoN, all subjects of the 3 King of Great Britain, residing at Vickers House, Broadway, Westminster, in the county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Automatic Guns, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic guns of the barrel recoiling type in which the lock is connected by toggle levers (constituted by a connecting rod and a crank) to a part recoiling with the barrel. The invention is particularly applicable to the Vickers automatic gun provided with the usual belt feed or with a drum feed.

As is well known it is customary in loading guns of the above type prior to firing, to twice actuate the handle connected to the crank shaft in order to insert a cartridge in the barrel and in the case of a belt feed it is also necessary to push or pull the belt a step forward between the two actuations of the crank handle, these various operations being required owing to the fact that the barrel remains stationary. The chief object of the present invention is to provide improved means for manually retracting the barrel so as to simplify the loading operation.

According to the invention the mechanism casing is provided with a stop-piece serving as a fulcrum for a part moving with the crank shaft so that when the crank handle is being operated by hand the said part will come against the stop-piece and the continued operation of the crank handle will then effect the retraction of the barrel. The said stop-piece is made movable and is caused to assume an inoperative position when the trigger is operated to fire the gun; the movement of the stop-piece is preferably controlled by the trigger mechanism in such a manner that the actuation of the trigger to fire the gun positively effects the movement of the stop-piece to its inoperative position and the release of the trigger to stop firing permits the stop-piece to assume its operative position.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into ASSIGNORS TO VICKERS LIMITED, 01 LON- AUTOMATIC son.

1923. Serial No. 640,568.

effect, the same will now be described more fully w1th reference to the accompanying drawings, in which F1gures.1 and 2 are respectively a vertical longitudinal section and a plan with the mechanism casing covcr removed, of the rear part of an automatic gun provided with a constructional form of our invention.

A is the mechanism casing, A the crank and A the connecting rod, the crank being connected to a shaft A carried by the reco1l plates of the gun barrel as is well understood. A is the usual operating crank handle connected to the shaft A. B is the trigger operating through a pivoted lever B upon a trigger bar B slidably carried by the hinged rear cover a of the mechanism casing as is customary. C represents the aforesald movable stop-piece which, in the example shown, is in the form of a springcontrolled plunger arranged transversely at the lower part of the mechanism casing at a suitable distance in front of the rear wall thereof. Normally (i. e. when the un is not firing) the end of the plunger 5 protrudes beyond the mechanism casing as shown in Figure 2 for engagement with the tail a of the crank handle A. The said plunger is connected by a bell crank lever b and links I)" to a lever b the upper arm of which is arranged in front of the lower arm of the trigger lever B so that the plunger is retracted into its inoperative position out of the path of the tail of the crank handle when the trigger B is actuated to fire the gun. To load the gun prior to firing, the crank handle A is partially rotated to break the toggle levers formed by the crank A and the connecting rod A and bring the lower surface of the crank handle tail (1 against the plun er (3; continued movement of the crank andle then retracts the barrel owing to the fact that the crank shaft A is carried by the recoil plates connected to the barrel. Before the maximum recoil position of the parts is reached the tail (1 clears the plunger C and the parts are then free to return under the action of the recoil spring. The forward portion of the protruding end of the plunger is bevelled as shown in order to permit the tail to pass the plunger in returning to the normal position.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is t 1. In an automatic n of the barrel recoiling type, the comb1nation with the operating crank, of a part moving therewith and a stop-piece carried by the non-recoillng mechanism casing of the gun serving as a fulcrum for the said part so that when the crank handle is being operated by hand the said art will come against the stop-piece and t e continued operation of the crank handle will then efi'ect the retraction'of the barrel.

2. In an automatic gun of the barrel recoiling type, the combination with the elements claimed in claim 1 of means for moving the stop-piece to an inoperative position when the trigger is operated to fire the g 3. In an automatic un of the barrel recoiling type, the combination with the elements claimed in claim 1 of means for positively moving the stop-piece to an inoperative position by the movement of the trigger to fire the gun, and means for returning said stop-piece to its gperative position when the trigger is release 4. In an automatic n of thebarrel recoiling type, the combination with the operating crank and crank handle, and a tail on said crank handle of a spring controlled plunger carried by the mechanism casing of the gun and normally projecting into the path of said tail and means for connecting said plunger to the trigger of the gun so that when the trigger is operated to fire the gun said plunger will be positively moved out of the path of said tail.

5. In an automatic gun of the barrel recoiling type, the combination with an operating crank journalled in the recoiling mechanism, of a part moving therewith and a stop-piece carried b the non-recoiling mechanism casing of the as a fulcrum of the said part so that when the crank handle is operated by hand the said part will come against the Stop piece and the continued operation of the crank handlle will then effect the retraction of the barre ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON. GEORGE THOMAS BUCKHAM. CARL ALFRED LARSSON.

gun and serving 

